Pynchon plays dice: Mason & Dixon and quantum history

This article examines Thomas Pynchon's 1997 historical novel, Mason & Dixon, and argues that the book's representations of history and science may be read as mirror images of each other. More specifically, the suggestion here is that the book's scepticism towards history as fixed document is reinforced by the way in which the two eponymous scientists are forced to question the Newtonian shibboleths of their own time. From Newtonian determinism, through Einsteinian relativity to quantum possibility, Pynchon charts the trajectory of science, and by extension, both advocates, and practises, a more open and inclusive method of writing 'history.'